Whoops! Human Error to Blame for Few Weather Sirens Tuesday Night

In the aftermath of the tornadic activity that hit the Sioux Falls area on Tuesday night, (September 10) many people were left wondering why the civil defense sirens did not sound throughout the entire city?

A tornado warning was issued for the entire city. However, the sirens were only activated on the southeast side of Sioux Falls.

TenHaken told KSFY, "Only some of our sirens were activated so when that call from the weather service came to metro only a partial number of our sirens were activated. Our system is not broken, it works absolutely just fine, but, there is a human aspect to operating a system and that's what happened in this case. We’re looking into actually redesigning that system per our meeting today."

TenHaken went on to explain how Tuesday night's storm was extremely fast-moving. By the time sirens could be activated, the three EF-2 tornadoes would've made their way through the city already.

Mayor TenHaken also reminded residents that sirens are one piece of the pie that we rely on to notify residents on what's going on with the weather.

According to KSFY, the mayor and city leaders met on Wednesday morning, (September 11) to discuss plans to redesign the alert system for the future.

As you may, or may not know already, the civil defense sirens are tested on the first Friday of each month in Sioux Falls.

A few other surefire ways to stay ahead of severe weather situations is to monitor your favorite radio station for the EAS Alert Tones. Those tones are immediately followed by up to date severe weather information from the National Weather Service.

You can also keep your cell phone by your side during severe weather for alert notifications. Another excellent way to stay abreast of severe weather is to purchase a weather radio. Having a NOAA Weather Radio handy, especially in your bedroom while you sleep, can be extremely beneficial in situations like the one we experienced here in Sioux Falls on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.